I love my job and don’t want to waste energy resenting aspects of it,so my unusual approach to inspections is: don’t panic and never ask for feedbackI have a certain sympathy with the concept of accountability: we all want to know whether our local school is any satisfactory and that our taxpayer contributions are spent effectively. But the way this straightforward desire has manifested itself in Ofsted – and the way some managers in schools have chosen (and it is a choice) to implement the inspectorate’s criteria – has turned the entire process into a pointless, stressful, and tick-box exercise.
I’ve been teaching in secondary schools for 16 years and have just been through my fifth Ofsted inspection. I never used to think much about inspections,but now they’re seen as a life-altering, career-defining Armageddon. It’s tough to identify a tipping point that led us to the current state of affairs, and where colleagues try to redefine teaching and work idiotic hours to invent lessons that achieve the impossible. I saw one teacher sob uncontrollably in the staffroom because he’d been up until 4am preparing a lesson which wasn’t inspected. A colleague and I tried to console him,but finding words of support did not reach easily. I found myself aroused and frustrated that educated adults and experienced professionals were being reduced to tears. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com